Amid harsh criticism from fans and officials alike, the Ministry of Gender Equality and family (MOGEF) has finally backed down and has agreed to renew its album review process.

MOGEF announced on August 29 that it set up a long-term plan to transfer the review and decision process for censorship to a private institution, and will be supporting the plan with revisions to the controversial Teenager Protection Law. If the law revision process goes smoothly, the new standards will be applied early next year.

Among the revisions is an item that will add a ‘restricted for below 12’ rating, to rate media more efficiently according to age groups. Also, the term ‘harmful media’ will be loosened to the term ‘restricted for teenage use’.

Before the revisions are made, MOGEF also decided to include the opinions of the music industry itself in the committee’s decision making, by allowing the opinions of companies such as the Korea Music Copyright Association and the Korea Music Content Industry Organization affect the MOGEF committee’s final decision. Other members who work in relevant fields will be added to the committee itself, such as experts in musical culture and popular song program PDs.

As for the lyric judgment standards, MOGEF has decided to ban only lyrics that openly promote or beautify drinking and smoking regardless of whether they simply include the words ‘drink’ or ‘smoke’.

Chairman Kang In Jung of the Album Review Committee, who was criticized for her religiously biased statement, resigned on August 27. Kang was criticized for expressing her Christian-biased views when she wrote in her column and online blog, “The reason why it rains so much during rock festivals is because God turned his shoulder on such festivals.”

MOGEF has accepted Chairperson Kang’s resignation and will be appointing a new Chairperson soon.

Photo credit: MOGEF Website

It seems like everybody’s clock keeps ticking except for this actress’. What makes her clock stand still? It’s been more than 10 years since Jun Ji Hyun debuted, but Jun, with her trademark long straight hair, is still beautiful and captivating.

Recently, she shared the first good news in a long time. She′s gone from being ′every man’s woman’ to being ‘one man’s girlfriend’. She confirmed on December 29 of last year that she’s been seeing Mr. Choi, the grandson of Hanbok designer Lee Young Hee, admitting to a relationship for the first time since her debut.

As people say women in love grow more beautiful, her beauty seems to be shining even brighter these days. We looked into her past and present.

I am

Jun Ji Hyun is well-known for her good figure. Her figure, which gives off a sexy vibe, contrary to her innocent girl-like face, most likely played a big role in bringing her to where she is now. The easiest way for a woman with a good figure to debut in the entertainment industry is to become a model. She took her first step into showbiz by modeling for the cover of fashion magazine ecole. At that time, she was noticed by an insider with the entertainment industry and cast in the movie, White Valentine and SBS’ Happy Together in 1999.

But it was actually a commercial that rocketed her to stardom – a short spot for a Samsung printer, first broadcast in 1999. In the commercial, she danced along to techno, showing off her pure beauty and a sexy vibe at the same time, effectively catching viewers’ interest.

But she didn’t grab eyes only with her looks and figure. She was well-received for her acting and won the new actress award at the SBS Drama Awards and the Baesang Arts Awards that year. Then, in 2001, she flew even higher with the box office hit My Sassy Girl in 2001. The movie, which drew as many as five million moviegoers to theaters, earned her the best actress award at the Daejong Film Festival. It was a feat she accomplished in only five short years since debuting.

But she failed to attract the same kind of attention for her following movies, Windstruck(2004), Daisy(2006), and A Man Who Was Superman(2008). Still, her star status didn’t take much of a hit, thanks to a string of advertisements. Her versatile images shown through various TV commercials made people fall in love with her. Her 25-year-old everyday image in the commercial for cosmetics brand LANEIGE added to the down-to-earth charm of her beauty, making her an A-list model in the advertising industry.

She made her way back into films through a surprisingly daring route: Hollywood. With the movie Blood: The Last Vampire (2009), Jun plunged into the biggest movie market in the world. Even though the reviews for the movie were polarized, she, at the very least, proved that she could take on such a bold challenge.

Some people have been criticizing her for only appearing on TV commercials instead of focusing on serious acting, but her movie, The Professionals, in which she worked with heavyweights like Kim Hye Soo, Kim Yun Seok, will be released this summer. She is gearing up to make a new leap forward in her acting career, which has admittedly been faltering.

Charm

There are few actresses who possess both purity and sexiness alike. Jun’s face, which changes drastically depending on outfits and hair styles, makes it possible for her to change her image in versatile roles. Her face without makeup evokes pure beauty but with a little dab of red lipstick, she turns into a woman who can make the hearts of men flutter. Her perfect face and body cause females to complain about the unfairness of the world. For this reason, she has already appeared in many commercials, and is still considered one of the most coveted female celebs.

More than anything else, as time goes, her natural beauty shines more in the midst of female celebrities who get their beauty from the doctor.

An official from advertising agency Cheil Worldwide, told enews, “The reason why Jun Ji Hyun and Kim Tae Hee continue to be on the receiving end of offers from the advertising industry is that they posses natural beauty. Viewers are fed up with surgically enhanced women. In that sense, Jun Ji Hyun and Kim Tae Hee have set themselves apart from other actresses.”

Moreover, her charms lie in her persistence in the face of consecutive failures. In the movie Blood: The Last Vampire, she showed off her English, which proved that she has been working hard behind-the-scenes.

Crisis

People say heaven only gives them as much adversity as they can bear. Would that be the case with Jun Ji Hyun, too? Though she’s accomplished success after success since her debut, bad things have happened to her continuously, ever since Windstruck ended up being a failure.

Her career as an actress has been under attack after a string of box-office failures, including Daisy, A Man Who Was Superman.

Whether a movie will succeed or not does not only hinge on an actor, so we can’t put all the blame on her. However, the only news she conveyed to the masses for sometime were scandals about her relationships and controversies.

Around the time the movie Windstruck failed, a rumor arose that Jun would marry Jung Hun Tak, a representative of her former agency. Jung filed a lawsuit against some news outlets for spreading ungrounded rumors and won the suit and 30 million won compensation. But they became a topic again as the two were captured by local media when they visited Hong Kong in September 2006.

Moreover, on January 19, 2009, the fact that Jun’s cell phone was illegally copied was found by the police and shockingly, Jung was found to have been involved in the incident. After that, Jun only appeared in commercials rather than working for films or dramas, and accordingly her career as an actress has been faltering, especially after she was swept up in another dating rumor with Rain in June 2010.

She has gazed into the ugly face of hardship in the past many times. But heaven only gives us struggles that we can win. Ahead of her return to the silver screen with the movie The Professionals, she has managed to find love as well.

Any copying, republication or redistribution of Mwave's content other than for personal uses is expressly prohibited Without prior permission from Mwave. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civill penalties.